From the Kaufthaus Nathan Israel to the Carl Bruns Company, Rathenow

Description

Front: Tan paper with printed "N.J. Israel" letterhead on upper lefthand corner.Typewritten letter with signature and other ink writing on the bottom right.

Back: Printed black lines with pencil handwriting written across the entirety of the page.

This letter from the Kaufthaus Nathan Israel to the Carl Bruns Company in Rathenow refers to payment not having been recieved, respectfully requesting that said payment be made. Israel's Department Store was founded by Nathan Israel in 1815. By the 1930s the store employed over 2,000 people and was a member of the stock exchange. It had been boycotted by the German government. Israel's was set ablaze and ransacked during Kristallnacht, after which it was Aryanized and re-opened under a different name. Wilfred Israel, who had run the store with his brother, emigrated to England and organized ship transports for Jewish children escaping from occupied Europe. Other members of the Israel family were deported to Theresienstadt where they perished.